Commercial Finance Specialists

More needs to be done to encourage environmentally-friendly development investment across the property sector, it has been claimed.

More needs to be done by the government to encourage building and address growing climate change concerns for the sector, it has been claimed.

Planning red tape that restricts commercial development offices and housing from making best use of environmental energy solutions is due to be cut by the government, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

However, a spokesperson for the department added that more can and must be done to improve the current planning systems impacting development investment.

He said: "The government is already taking action in terms of retrofitting existing buildings, improving future design standards and cutting red tape in the planning system for the installation of green energy solutions."

His comments follow the publication of a new study last month, which indicated that simply painting city building rooftops white could help to mitigate some of the impacts of climate change.

Researchers at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research found that white roofs help to reflect some of the heat in city areas back into space, cooling temperatures in the same way that wearing a white t-shirt on a sunny day can.